Tag Archives: privy council

Norman Lamb has just been made a member of the Privy Council, which entitles him to be given the Right Hon treatment. That privilege is automatically bestowed on Cabinet ministers, the Leader of the Opposition and senior judges, but other ministers are added from time to time.

From my research (ie a quick look at Wikipedia), I have discovered that the Privy Council advises the monarch, and in the past was the most powerful body in the country. Today, its powers have been transferred to the Cabinet, which technically is a committee of the Privy Council.

Membership is for life and at present there are 600 members of the Privy Council. They only meet in full on the death of a monarch, or, intriguingly, when the Monarch gets engaged, which last happened in 1939.

With Nick Clegg about to miss ‘an unprecedented fourth meeting of the Privy Council’ in his role as Lord President of the Council, the Telegraph spotted a mischief-making opportunity and phoned one of the leader’s aides to get a quote. The reporter got more than he …